Price Discrimination by Product Type

11.
Posted byMel.(Travel Guru 4567 posts) 10y
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Quoting Purdy

Gotta agree with the last point James made - should be equality all around.

Yeah of course. But certain things have to be taken into consideration.For example here in Germany the birth rate is dropping to alamingly low levels. The focus on money earning in the society here and the demands on womens time and energy to earn is one of the major causes in my opinion. If the demands on women to have tax producing jobs are not lightened up there will be a serious crisis after a few more decades when there are just not enough tax payers to support the elderly. I would never have said this before I experienced pregnancy and then being responsible for a child. Now I think we should be given the time to parent and grandparent. I read a report this year that said that Germany has the highest incidents of playground bullying in all of the European Union. I well believe it because I have already had to deal with it numerous times. I am often the only parent available when these things happen. That is just one example but we need society to allow us to be available for the kids. (Of course it does not suit all women and they should not have to do it if they dont want to. )Equality laws really should take into account the demands made on women outside the workplace as well as inside. If this is the reason women can retire earlier in Australia then this may in fact be a move towards equality.

12.
Posted byjames(Travel Guru 4138 posts) 10y
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Seems it's the same in the UK..

"You can get your State Pension when you reach State Pension age. The State Pension age is currently 65 for men and between 60 and 65 for women. However, the State Pension age for women is changing - it will rise gradually from age 60 to 65 from 2010 to 2020."

13.
Posted bymikeyBoab(Travel Guru 5077 posts) 10y
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BUT . . . the male retirement age is to rise to 70. I think in 2030.

14.
Posted bytway(Travel Guru 7273 posts) 10y
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I don't mind so much that people who make more pay more in taxes - I think it's a necessity in a society that offers healthcare, affordable education, etc. etc. What I don't agree with is that able-bodied people can choose not to work and to collect welfare - that's a loophole that needs closing. Thats also another subject altogether.

But! I'm with Purdy. I didn't even realize they taxed tampons - how rude! Who exactly thinks they're not a necessity? Dry cleaners?

15.
Posted bylehcargiar(Budding Member 62 posts) 10y
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In Ireland, condoms are taxed as a luxury item, at a rate of 21%

A lot of different groups are pressuring the government to bring it down to 5%, which is the lowest tax bracket available

“The Government is worried that if it agreed to cut VAT on condoms to 5 percent, [it would open] the floodgates to a veritable deluge of unreasonable demands for VAT reduction on countless other consumer goods."

How ridiculous is that!

16.
Posted bymikeyBoab(Travel Guru 5077 posts) 10y
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Interesting excerpt from Wikipedia:

Under UK law, no VAT is charged on biscuits and cakes — they are "zero rated". Chocolate covered biscuits, however, are classed as luxury items and are subject to VAT at 17.5%. McVitie's classed its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991, this was challenged by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in court.[4] This may have been because Jaffa Cakes are about the same size and shape as some types of biscuit. The question which had to be answered was what criteria should be used to class something as a cake or biscuit. McVitie's defended the classification of Jaffa Cakes as a cake by producing a giant Jaffa Cake to illustrate that their Jaffa Cakes were simply mini cakes.

They also argued that the distinction between cakes and biscuits is simply that biscuits go soft when stale, whereas cakes go hard. It was demonstrated that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale and McVitie's won the case.[5]

The issue was revisited in an article entitled 'Are Jaffa Cakes really biscuits?' published in the Journal of Unlikely Science (Volume 1, issue 7, 2005).[6] The article attempted to classify biscuits via a scientific analysis of various features (size, shape, filling etc.) and determined that the Jaffa Cake should be regarded as a biscuit, or 'pseudobiscuit'.

17.
Posted bytway(Travel Guru 7273 posts) 10y
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Mmmm. I like Jaffa cakes. The equivalent over here are called Pims. Mmmm...lovely orange-filled Pims. Now I'm hungry.

18.
Posted byMel.(Travel Guru 4567 posts) 10y
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FFSThat cake biscuit thing is as idiotic as the poll tax reasoning. I remember when poll tax was introduced in England there were people on the same street who had to pay and ones who did not have to pay. One side of the street was taxed but not the other.

Condoms taxed. I think they should be available for free.

Another gender thing that happens here in Munich is with toilets. Many cafes and restaurants charge 50 Cents to use the toilet. At night men often pee against walls or in the park. Public peeing is illegal for everybody but in reality men can do it while we often have to pay 50Cents to use the toilet in McDonalds.

19.
Posted bymagykal1(Travel Guru 2026 posts) 10y
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Haha! I love the jaffa cakes thing, go mcvities!

Being a man, the ones that get my goat is the women drivers only car insurance - I mean, you couldn't offer car insurance just for people with ginger hair could you? And that's just as much a matter of genetic determination.

20.
Posted byMel.(Travel Guru 4567 posts) 10y
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But Magykal, the insurance companies said we get the special cheaper car insurance because we dont cause as many accidents as the male chauvinist road hogs. At least that is the way the news papers in Ireland explained it when womens car insurance first happened.